Consuming media presentations generally involves listening to audio information and/or viewing video information such as, for example, radio programs, music, television programs, movies, still images, etc. Media-centric companies such as, for example, advertising companies, broadcasting networks, etc. are often interested in the viewing and listening interests of their audience to better allocate their advertising expenditures and better market their products.
A known technique often used to measure the exposure of audience members to media involves installing metering equipment within a household connected to one or more televisions and/or stereos throughout the household. When members of the household watch television or other video media content (e.g., digital video disks, video cassette recorders, personal video recorders, etc.) and/or listen to radio programming or audio from compact discs (CD's), tapes, etc., the metering equipment collects metering information such as, for example, video or audio signatures (e.g., samples of the monitored signals or proxies representative of such samples), identification codes (e.g., codes ancillary to the program content inserted into the program for the purpose of audience measurement), time/date stamps, user identities, demographic characteristics, etc.
In some cases, to extract the media monitoring data or information from the metering equipment, the metering equipment must be removed from the audience member's house by field personnel or otherwise shipped to a central processing facility. Damage to the metering equipment and/or the media monitoring information may occur during the removal and/or shipment. In addition, the equipment or information may otherwise be lost.
Furthermore, requiring the metering equipment to be removed from a household to extract the media monitoring data prevents an audience measurement company from obtaining further media monitoring information from a willing participate. This also adds costs associated with the removal of the media monitoring equipment, shipment, processing, securing of additional audience members, and reshipment of the media monitoring equipment to the additional audience members.